homersheineken posted this on the random pic thread on gd
Quote:
3,000 images combine for Milky Way portrait Panoramic image shows stars 1,000 times fainter than human eye can see
A new panoramic image of the full night sky — with the Milky Way as its centerpiece — has been made by piecing together 3,000 individual photographs.
The panorama's creator, Axel Mellinger of Central Michigan University, spent 22 months and traveled over 26,000 miles to take digital photographs at dark sky locations in South Africa, Texas and Michigan.
"This panorama image shows stars 1,000 times fainter than the human eye can see, as well as hundreds of galaxies, star clusters and nebulae," Mellinger said.
To combine these images, a simple cutting and pasting job would not suffice. Each photograph is a two-dimensional projection of the celestial sphere. As such, each one contains distortions, in much the same way that flat maps of the round Earth are distorted. In order for the images to fit together seamlessly, those distortions had to be accounted for. To do that, Mellinger used a mathematical model — and hundreds of hours in front of a computer.
Another problem he had to deal with was the differing background light in each photograph.
"Due to artificial light pollution, natural air glow, as well as sunlight scattered by dust in our solar system, it is virtually impossible to take a wide-field astronomical photograph that has a perfectly uniform background," Mellinger said.
To fix this, Mellinger used data from the Pioneer 10 and 11 space probes. The data allowed him to distinguish star light from unwanted background light. He could then edit out the varying background light in each photograph and fit them together so that they wouldn't look patchy.
Mellinger describes the image-making process in the November issue of the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
The result is an image of our home galaxy that no star-gazer could ever see from a single spot on earth. Mellinger plans to make the giant 648 megapixel image available to planetariums around the world.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:54 pm Posts: 12287 Location: Manguetown Gender: Male
EbolaMonkey wrote:
lipidicman wrote:
Click image for full version
The satellite on the bottom right, Voyager I, is the first manmade object to leave our solar system. In case it's ever found by another life form, there's a record made of solid gold attached to it.
The record is imprinted with directions on how to play it, seen in the second picture. The record is filled with various sounds of the Earth.
Quote:
* Johann Sebastian Bach is the most represented artist, appearing three times, and, with the addition of two pieces by Beethoven, make Germany the most represented country with six appearances, followed by the United States.
Sagan had originally asked for permission to include "Here Comes the Sun" from the Beatles' album Abbey Road. While the Beatles favoured it, EMI opposed it and the song was not included
If the aliens enjoy the bagpipe songs, it means it's ok to declare war on them?
_________________ There's just no mercy in your eyes There ain't no time to set things right And I'm afraid I've lost the fight I'm just a painful reminder Another day you leave behind
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:47 am Posts: 46000 Location: Reasonville
It's hard for me to even comprehend I'm alive sometimes.
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
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EbolaMonkey wrote:
lipidicman wrote:
Click image for full version
The satellite on the bottom right, Voyager I, is the first manmade object to leave our solar system. In case it's ever found by another life form, there's a record made of solid gold attached to it.
The record is imprinted with directions on how to play it, seen in the second picture. The record is filled with various sounds of the Earth.
Quote:
* Johann Sebastian Bach is the most represented artist, appearing three times, and, with the addition of two pieces by Beethoven, make Germany the most represented country with six appearances, followed by the United States.
Sagan had originally asked for permission to include "Here Comes the Sun" from the Beatles' album Abbey Road. While the Beatles favoured it, EMI opposed it and the song was not included
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 5:25 pm Posts: 35180 Location: Brasil Gender: Male
Aliens? They're already living among us, claim Bulgarian government scientists
By Daily Mail Reporter
Aliens are already among us on Earth, say Bulgarian government scientists who claim they are in contact with them. Researchers for the country's Space Research Institute said they are currently working on deciphering a complex set of symbols sent to them. They claim the aliens are in the process of answering 30 questions posed to them by the Bulgarians. Lachezar Filipov, deputy director of the Space Research Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (right), said: 'Aliens are currently all around us, and are watching us all the time' The dragonfly crop circle which appeared in Yatesbury, Wiltshire, this year Lachezar Filipov, deputy director of the Space Research Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, confirmed the research was under way. In all, his team are analysing 150 crop circles from around the world which they believe answer questions beamed into outer space. Mr Filipov said: 'Aliens are currently all around us, and are watching us all the time. 'They are not hostile towards us, rather, they want to help us but we have not grown enough in order to establish direct contact with them.' Mr Filipov added that even the seat of the Catholic church, the Vatican, had agreed that aliens existed. In his words, the humans are not going to be able to establish contact with the extraterrestrials through radio waves but through the power of thought. He told the novinite newspaper: 'The human race was certainly going to have direct contact with the aliens in the next 10 to 15 years. 'Extraterrestrials are critical of the people's amoral behavior referring to the humans' interference in nature's processes.' Filipov's team is reported to be analysing crop circles which appeared around the globe in the past year. The publication of the BAS researchers report concerning communicating with aliens comes in the midst of a controversy over the role, feasibility, and reform of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Last week it lead to a heated debate between Bulgaria's Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, and President Georgi Parvanov.
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EbolaMonkey wrote:
The satellite on the bottom right, Voyager I, is the first manmade object to leave our solar system. In case it's ever found by another life form, there's a record made of solid gold attached to it.
The record is imprinted with directions on how to play it, seen in the second picture. The record is filled with various sounds of the Earth.
Yeah, I could totally figure out what to do with that thing from those 'directions'.
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tryinmorning wrote:
EbolaMonkey wrote:
The satellite on the bottom right, Voyager I, is the first manmade object to leave our solar system. In case it's ever found by another life form, there's a record made of solid gold attached to it.
The record is imprinted with directions on how to play it, seen in the second picture. The record is filled with various sounds of the Earth.
Yeah, I could totally figure out what to do with that thing from those 'directions'.
Well, you couldn't, but if an intelligent species found it and put their best minds to work on deciphering it, they might figure it out.
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Joined: Fri Mar 31, 2006 9:23 am Posts: 1867 Location: UK
This record is covered in this week's Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4:
The Hair of the Dog and Other Scientific Surprises Karl Sabbagh book explores the surprising science behind seemingly trivial assumptions. See episode 3 which is on air now and will be on iplayer soon, although they are all worth a listen http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00p6ypz
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